


The Aftermath

by Deamon_Hunter



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6642415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deamon_Hunter/pseuds/Deamon_Hunter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Battle of Beacon is over. The dust has settled and everyone is left with scars. Pyrrha Nikos is dead, Beacon is overrun and Ozpin is missing. Follow the members of Team RWBY as they attempt to recover from what has happened to them, physically and emotionally.</p><p>A series of stories revolving around events with a timeline from the fall of Beacon to Team RNJR's journey to Mistral.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, I wrote this series of connected shorts to help deal with the Volume 3 finale. We never really get to see what is going on inside team RWBY or team JNPR's heads. One of their best (and likely) only friends was just murdered, their school (and in some cases home) was just destroyed. I guess that they may address this in volume four but who knows?
> 
> In this story there will be an OC, BUT he will show up rarely, either to explain a point or help move the plot along. He will in no way have a major, overarching role.This excludes Blake's chapter because Blake talking to herself would be boring.
> 
> Legal stuff: I do not own RWBY, all characters, names and images belong to their respective owners (i.e. RT)

Hello all! I am new to writing but I have always been fond of stories. This is my first fan fiction story. Comments are welcome and appreciated! Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!

Qrow looked towards beacon on the horizon. The school was flooded with Grimm, even more were on the way. He couldn't fathom what exactly had happened, but as time had passed it became clearer that this was an opening move, rather than an end goal. He thought of Ruby and Yang, Ruby had awakened the silver eye power, but at what cost? Two of her friends were dead, Yang was emotionally scarred and had lost an arm. In the end, it had been a complete defeat.

-Vale CCT tower three months ago-

Qrow recalled picking up Ruby's limp form from the CCT tower, she was unconscious but otherwise unharmed. Yang was already in a bulkhead and was safe. Now he need to get Ruby away as well. Qrow looked through the rubble. That red-head had supposedly been here too according to the Schnee girl. How Ruby had become friends with her was beyond his comprehension, Winter was a soldier with a stick way too deep in her ass, He wondered if Weiss was dramatically different. His eyes fell upon a bronze headpiece that had been left on the floor. He recognized it from the fights at the coliseum.

"Oh, no…" he whispered as he lifted the headpiece from the ground. While it could have been knocked off, or abandoned he had a feeling in his gut that this headpiece had been left here for one reason.

The person who wore it was dead. Pyrrha Nikos had been killed on top of the CCT tower, possibly by the Queen or the Dragon, he suspected the former.

Qrow gritted his teeth so much had happened to vale, to Yang, to Ruby, now he had to add this? They wouldn't break not from this, but it would be some time before they would be anything close to how they were a few days ago, bright cheerful, happy. That witch had stolen their innocence, the idea that the good guys always win in the end. It was an idea they would realize wasn't always true, but that was the kind of thing that people should learn when they are older, not when they were still just kids.

He turned and started to walk away with Ruby in his arms but he heard a rustling behind him. He turned and nearly dropped Ruby.

"Where is Ozpin?" The figure asked. He was probably in his mid to late twenties. His hair was cut short but most of his head was covered by his coat's hood. The coat itself was a dark teal color, with black stripes down the sides. He wore dark jeans and combat boots. A scarf was wrapped around the lower half of his face. At his side he carried a katana with a light green cloth wrapping around the hilt.

"Who are you" Qrow demanded, tensing. He could not fight and defend Ruby at the same time. If this guy was after Ozpin he needed to stop him. Qrow didn't know where Ozpin was but he was probably injured, maybe if fate was especially cruel, dead.

"Qrow, Where is Ozpin?" The figure asked.

'How the hell do you know my name?" Qrow asked drawing his weapon.

"Dammit it's me!" The figure pulled down the scarf. His face was similar to that of Ozpin. However his hair was a brownish red and his eyes were a silver color.

"Tale? What the hell are you doing here?" Qrow asked confused as to why the young Hunter was Here He was supposed to be in Atlas, working as a liaison for Vale.

"Ozpin wanted help. Said there was trouble brewing." Tale responded.

"What the hell happened, I was thinking a terrorist attack or maybe a horde of incoming Grimm. This," he said s[reading his arms out "was not what I was expecting. Hell, I wouldn't have thought of this as a worse case scenario."

"It's really bad, we're getting out of here while we have the chance. Soon this place will be flooded with Grimm."

"That is an understatement." Tale responded. "Let's get out of here. Where to?" He asked.

"Home." Qrow responded. "We will talk more there." Tale nodded, he raised his hand as the air beside him started to warp and crack. Soon it split open, as a pale greenish-blue glow appeared to flow from the sky. Qrow walked through quickly, Tale following just behind.

"Looks like the towers all over again." Tale muttered to himself as he looked out over the ruins of beacon and the CCT tower. It had been only a few months since he had last been in Vale, and yet it seemed like forever ago. It had been brighter and a happier place back then. Tale walked through the portal he had made without a word. The portal soon closed in on itself. No one, not even cinder would have been able to point to exactly where the portal had been. In effect, it was like the portal had never existed in the first place.

Half way across vale Qrow and Tale walked out of a portal right in front of a very surprised Taiyang. He had been glued to the TV, likely horrified at think what his girls were going through. Taiyang lost his balance as Qrow walked out of thin air, holding Ruby. Tale followed right behind. Almost as soon as Tale had appeared he dropped to his knees, retching for a few moments before vomiting onto the floor. Taiyang now on the ground, groaned at the inconvenience, cleaning that up would be a mess. But quickly he stood, noticed Ruby and rushed over.

"Qrow! What happened to Ruby? Is she hurt? Where's yang? I she alright?"

"Ruby is fine, just a little tired. She needs some rest. I'll take the fighter to her bedroom, ya might want to clean up the mess down here while I do that." Qrow responded smirking and quickly walked up the stairs towards Ruby's bedroom.

Taiyang got on his knees. "Tale, are you okay?" He asked. A look of concern showing on his face. Tale looked up weakly and put on a weak smile. He looked exhausted like summer sometimes used to after taking care of Ruby, Yang and a thousand other things all day.

"I'll help clean up my mess. Sorry about this Mr. Xiao-long, I'm not used to so many-" Tale started to cough violently.

"You need rest. I can clean this up." Taiyang said. Whatever this kid had done he had clearly pushed himself. "By the way shouldn't you be in atlas?" Taiyang asked suddenly curious.

"Semblances come in handy." Tale responded. Taiyang suddenly became much more concerned, a look of confusion and shock on his face. "You used your semblance to get to Vale and then did the same to get here?" His tone, part accusation, part shock.

"Ozpin said he needed help ASAP. It was a surprising call to get but you know what they say about rest for the weary. I cut the trips with smaller jumps, should help speed up my recovery." He responded in a tired and weak voice.

Tale pushed himself up, using a nearby wall for balance. Taiyang stood with him. "Take it easy Tale, Ozpin warned you about doing so many jumps and about that kind of distance."

"A little vomit never killed anyone, and when Ozpin misspells in a text we both know it is serious." He said smiling somewhat. Taiyang nodded and put his arm under tale's as Tale put one arm over Taiyang's shoulder. Taiyang slowly guided tale to a nearby chair and lowered him. Tale thanked him and fished his scroll out of a pocket. He tapped a few buttons before showing Taiyang the text.

Tale, need Hep A wap, Come buck immediately.

-Ozpin

"To be honest I thought it was a joke. His spelling has never been this bad." Tale said trying to chuckle before shoving the phone back into his pocket. Tale started to blink sleepily. "Sorry Taiyang, I think I'm gonna need a nap. Sorry about leaving you the mess…" Soon Tale was snoring quietly. Taiyang stood; He would need to get answers out of Qrow now. Tale had used his semblance to travel halfway across the world something Ozpin had told him never to do, Beacon was overrun and Yang was not at home. He was afraid for his eldest daughter's safety and afraid of what had happened to his youngest daughter. What had she seen? What had she experienced? Qrow would tell him, and he would tell him the minute he got back downstairs. Taiyang waited with his arms crossed, staring at the staircase, waiting for Qrow to reappear.

He waited

And waited

And waited.

Taiyang sighed as he marched up the stairs, he turned left and briskly walked up to Ruby's door, he opened it "Qrow we need to talk." He said fiercely. The scene he saw was unusual, for Qrow at least. Qrow sat backward on a chair Arms crossed over the chairs back, head resting. Qrow slowly turned to look at Taiyang. Taiyang was quick to notice that Qrow looked like he had been crying.

"Dammit Tai, can't you give an uncle some alone time with his niece?"

"We need to talk, you need to tell me what happened." Taiyang said in a strong, measured voice. Qrow paused for second then nodded.

'You're right. Let's go downstairs." Qrow said, standing and walking out to the hallways. Taiyang followed him out and closed the door to Ruby's room behind him.

They sat in the kitchen, making sure not to wake up Tale, who was sleeping in the living room. It did not take long for Qrow to get to Yang and her run in with an apparent White Fang member from Blake's past. Taiyang went pale when Qrow mentioned that Yang defended Blake, who was already injured. And his jaw dropped when Qrow told him yang lost an arm. Qrow struggled to calm Taiyang down as he explained what happened with Ruby, Her silver eyes and what had happened on the CCT tower.

"And that was when Tale showed up, we came here right after." Qrow finished. By this point Taiyang was holding his head in his hands. Qrow sighed, I'm sorry Tai, if-"

"Dammit Qrow! What the hell were you thinking!"? Taiyang shouted, grabbing Qrow by the collar, lifting him up and shoving him into a wall. "They are still kids! They aren't trained hunters! They aren't ready for that save the world stuff, you and Ozpin and Raven and Summer did! Don't you think our family has lost enough]? Now you want to add my daughters into this mess!"

Qrow snapped, maybe it was the accusations; maybe it was the frustration that had been brewing all day, who the hell knew. He grabbed Taiyang's arm and twisted. Taiyang yelped as he felt the bone crack. Qrow threw a punch and Taiyang lost his grip on Qrow.

"You think I am to blame for them wanting to be hunters? Hell Ruby would still be a hunter in training if I didn't help her! The difference is that today I would have brought back a corpse! Summer is gone, who the hell knows where Raven is, be thankful for what you have!" Qrow said as he smashed his fist into Taiyang's jaw

"Yang's arm is gone! Ruby saw her friends die! She isn't a heartless soldier Qrow! How do you think this will affect Ruby? How do you think yang losing an arm will affect her?" Taiyang said as he kneed Qrow in the gut. Qrow buckled over from the force. Forgot his semblance is like Yang's. Need to end this now. He thought. Taiyang's kicked him into the kitchen table, which quickly fragmented into splinters.

"Tai, bad things happen, they happen to everyone! Don't think you are the only one suffering! You kids want to do what's right, you should be proud of that!"

Qrow said standing back up. Taiyang grabbed his collar. But did not throw a punch.

"Qrow, why does this happen? Why do kids have to be the ones to die like this? Why are they the ones suffering? It should be our job, our burden." Taiyang said as he let go and sat back down.

Qrow sighed, "I don't know Tai, I'm not that wise. But these kids, Ruby and Yang. They're strong. They have big hearts they will pull through. We just need to give them time to mourn and accept what has happened."

"When will that happen?"

"I don't know Tai, I don't know."

Tale woke up early the next morning. He stayed for a brief breakfast before leaving again. He still had work to do, had to cover up loose ends and keep Ozpin's information network intact in Atlas. He would be heading back there by Bulkhead from Signal. He told Qrow to keep in touch. And told Taiyang to hang in there, Yang would be back soon.

By coincidence, Yang was dropped off at the house minutes after Tale left. Qrow watched Taiyang become a nervous wreck crying as he stared at what remained of Yang's arm. Yang was… not looking well. Her eyes were dead. Qrow noticed that neither Blake nor Weiss were with her. He didn't want to ask, he could already figure what had happened. Part of him suspected that Tale had known too, or the "hang in there" advice had been really well timed.

Ruby still wasn't awake; Qrow hadn't heard anything from Ozpin and time slowly moved forward. Ruby woke up, Vale began to deal with the Grimm problem, Things were far from normal, hell, they were still very bad but the world was still moving.

Qrow looked down, as Ruby and her friends walked through the snow towards Haven They would have a long way to go. Qrow smiled before he flew off, as a crow, to deal with the immediate problem at beacon.

Tale was there waiting for him. "Got your call. Any idea what we're after?"

"Info, what happened, any hints as to their future plans."

"Or where Ozpin is?"

"Exactly."

Tale cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms "looks like we got a lot to do. We still can't take out the dragon so we better make this fast, I for one don't want to be here when more Grimm come."

"Scared of a little Grimm, I thought Ozpin raised you better than that." Qrow quipped. Tale turned with a small smirk on his face.

"Ozpin raised me for a few years, taught me some important lessons, then sent me off to school."

"So."

"I forgot Ozpin's lessons pretty quickly in Vacuo."

Qrow smiled at that "care for a drink?" He offered holding out a flask

"Drinking before a mission?" Tale said in mock horror before grabbing the flask "Wouldn't dream otherwise." He said before taking a drink.

The two headed off towards Beacon, slightly more drunk than either had intended, hunting for answers but prepared to find only more questions.


	2. Blake: Hunting the Past

Blake lay in stretcher on the Bullhead. She had seen Ruby and Weiss run off. A part of her wanted to stop them, tell them it wasn't safe. Adam was still out there, hunting for her, hunting for her team. She couldn't fight him, none of them could he was too strong.

Instead of doing anything, she looked at Yang's unconscious form again, her eyes drifted to where yang's right arm should have been. Adam had severed it, cut through aura and bone. Yang had just been trying to save Blake, and for her trouble she lost an arm. Worse still Adam would hunt her; use every skill he had to cut Yang down. The reason? Yang was precious to Blake. Blake eyes started to tear.

"I am so sorry. If it wasn't for me…" Blake whispered. She knew what Yang would say in such a situation. She would comment how she would get a cool robotic arm, upgrade Ember Celica, that it wasn't Blake's fault. Blake knew Yang would believe all that to be true, Blake also knew that it wasn't. Yang had lost an arm, the school had been destroyed and Adam now knew where she was. There was only one thing she could do.

She had to leave.

She left almost as soon as they landed. There were no goodbyes. Blake simply got off the stretcher and started to walk away from the makeshift camp. At one point, she felt like someone was watching her. She turned and looked into the distance. Near the camp she saw a blonde haired figure. Jaune perhaps? No she thought, and then she noticed the blonde tail. Sun. She turned and knew he could see her. For a moment she wanted to go back, Help Yang through this, she had suffered enough. But then she thought of Adam "I will destroy everything you hold dear." Those had been his words. If she stayed she would only be helping herself. She would be happier, but it would put Yang in more danger. Yang was strong; she had Ruby to help her. Blake made a silent promise to return when this was all over. She would explain everything; her past with Adam, the White Fang. She'd explain it to everyone who would listen. Sun, Ozpin, Weiss, Ruby and especially Yang. Yang deserved to know about her partners past and it would help Blake move forward with her life become a huntress, rather than an ex-white Fang Member.

Blake turned away from Sun, imagining the look of disappointment on his face, to her relief, he didn't ask her to stop, didn't run up and beg her to stay buts he felt his eyes piercing her and she felt a deep sadness. As night fell and the camp faded past the horizon she still felt a deep pang of sadness, perhaps it was guilt or a feeling of dread, Blake did not know which, but she did know that she couldn't move forward until she ended this.

-Eight days later-

Blake landed lightly as another Grimm faded behind her. She was moving east through the city that surrounded Beacon. The Grimm were getting more numerous and dangerous. She doubted the White Fang were hiding here. Were they back in Mountain Glenn? Blake didn't think so; it would be a dangerous hiding spot and did not make much in regards to a safe hideout. Blake continued to walk forward surrounded by her own thoughts. She hadn't slept in two days, and the wound to her stomach had reopened. Her cat ears pricked up as she heard the sound of swooshing air. She turned to see a large nevermore soaring down towards her. She gritted her teeth, in her current condition this would not be easy. But something was wrong. The nevermore was… divebombing? She had fought Nevermores before and they usually didn't do this. What was going on? That was when she noticed a teal colored jacket. Blake leapt back as the nevermore came closer to the ground, quickly crashing into the pavement. The figure in the teal jacket went flying from the impact. Blake felt the wind gush past her from the speed of the figure that just passed her right shoulder. She spun around to see the figure crash into a shop. She winced as the glass front shattered and heard the tumble of bookshelves. The figure stood, Blake's eyes widened as she saw a familiar face.

"Professor Ozpin?" She asked loudly. Ozpin was missing. He hadn't been on any of the Bulkheads when she had left. There hadn't been confirmation of his death either. The figure stood wiping glass off of his teal jacket and shaking his head.

"That was unexpected. I need to work on my landing strategy next time." The figure chuckled before looking up. Blake's heart had risen to her chest thinking that Ozpin or any of the other teachers had survived. The man looked like Ozpin, but clearly was not. His hair was reddish-brown, rather than white and he wasn't old enough to be Ozpin. This person looked to be in his twenties, far too young to be the wise, mysterious Professor Ozpin. Suddenly Blake was snapped out of these thoughts by a hand on her shoulder. She instinctively swung her blade at the figure

"Whoa!" the figure said, dodging by the smallest of margins.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I feel like I get this more than I should." The figure mumbled

"Tell me now!" She said pointing the blade at this mysterious Ozpin lookalike.

"My name is Tale. I am looking for Ozpin. Please stop pointing your blade at me." Tale said, raising his hands as if in surrender. Blake only became more suspicious. This was how those others got into Beacon. They had come with lies and excuses. Now a new figure showed up in the wreckage? No way this was a coincidence.

"How do I know you aren't lying?" Blake asked. Tale sighed as a response, shaking his head.

"You are, I assume Blake Belladonna, a friend of Ruby Rose?"

"How do you know Ruby?" Blake demanded tensing even more.

"I know Qrow, I helped Ruby escape after the CCT tower fell." Tale said before his face suddenly became pained. 'After she stopped the Dragon and Cinder Fall."

"So everyone is safe, they got out alright." Blake said, relief washing over her. In the chaos she had nearly forgotten than Jaune and Pyrrha were still somewhere in Beacon. She was glad they had gotten out safe and sound. Ruby never did leave a friend behind; she was too kind to do that. She was surprised Cinder, Emerald's friend was behind this but that was a question for later. Right now she was happy her friends were alive. She paused; as Tale's face remained pained he looked away from Blake, clearly uncomfortable.

"Ms. Belladonna, I don't know how to say this…" Tale said looking for the right words. Blake's heart plummeted, Were Jaune and Pyrrha dead? That was impossible, Jaune maybe but Pyrrha would have protected him. Even to her it was clear Pyrrha had a crush on Jaune. There was no way they were dead. Did something happen to ruby?

"What happened? Is Ruby okay?" Blake asked, thinking how Yang would react to seeing her little sister crippled.

"Ruby is fine, a few scratches at the worst. She was more tired than anything." Blake relaxed again. But that meant that Jaune or Pyrrha must have been badly injured, nothing else could explain Tale's face. "But Pyrrha died. She was killed by Cinder. Ruby got there too late."

For a few moments Blake didn't react. She could not comprehend Pyrrha dying. Blake wasn't close to Pyrrha; they were friends of a mutual friend. Still the thought of the invincible girl, champion of mistral, dying was hard to believe.

"How do you know?"

"Ruby woke up, she filled in some blanks." Tale said somberly.

Blake was quiet. It still hadn't really sunk in. She wondered how the rest of them must be feeling, Beacon was gone, Ozpin was missing, Pyrrha was dead and she had run away.

She had run away yet again.

"We need to leave, there are more Grimm coming. Follow me, I know a place where you can sleep." Tale said waving to her. He turned and walked down a side street. Blake paused, thinking of the risks following the person would entail. She sighed, and then followed glumly.

It was only a few minutes since they began but to Blake it felt like hours. She still tried to imagine how Pyrrha had died, what situations she would have had to be in to make that kind of sacrifice.

"Here we are. It's a bit of a dump… okay a lot of a dump, but it is safe." Tale said. Pointing to a worn brick building that had "from dust till dawn" scrawled on the side. Blake would have thought it to be a dust shop if it wasn't so run down. Tale walked inside. Blake followed quietly. As they wandered up the stairs Blake started to wonder how Tale had a connection to Qrow and Ozpin. Why was he here alone rather than with a team? Was he so confident in his abilities? Or was it all a lie and he was leading her into a trap. It was too late to turn back though. She followed, prepared to react at a moments notice.

Tale motioned to an open room. There was a sleeping bag and a small lantern. Nearby there were some cans of food. Blake sat on the ground cross-legged. Tale sat across from her and handed her a can of tuna. Blake soon felt her mouth start to water.

"I have a ton more where that came from, I'm not fond of tuna so I haven't eaten much of it." Tale said, trying to lighten the mood with a chuckle.

Blake simply looked at him, trying to figure out his angle. Tale tilted his head in response and made a face.

"I'm not asking you to trust me Ms. Belladonna, but honestly, you need to trust someone. You won't make it through what you are feeling if you don't."

Something in Blake cracked at that. How could he know how she was feeling?

"You know nothing about me. You don't know how I feel or what I'm going through. I do trust people just not you."

"It doesn't seem that way to me." Tale responded "You are running around in a Grimm infested city alone. You have not contacted any of your friends since Beacon. By the way when was the last time you actually slept?"

"The White fang is a threat, I have a responsibility to stop them. Adam hurt Yang, I can't let him do that to others."

"In other words, you ran away to protect your friends."

"Yes." Blake responded relaxing, she picked up the spoon attached to the top of the can of tuna and scooped some into her mouth. It seemed he had given up trying to convince her to go back. That had been easier than she expected.

"How absolutely childish." Tale said in a disapproving tone.

"What?" Blake sneered 'I don't see you with your friends. I don't see you protecting anyone!"

"Most of my friends are dead Ms. Belladonna, I don't have the luxury of running away from my friends. I don't have the luxury of being self-righteous and rationalizing running away as being protective."

Blake became angrier as his speech went on. 'Where do you get off being so self-righteous yourself? So much better than me?"

"Ms. Belladonna you are running away from your problems because you are afraid. You are afraid of Adam, You are afraid of what he will do to your friends. That makes sense. But how could you not see that is exactly what he wants?"

"What he wants me away from them? Yang's uncle can protect her, Yang is safe where she is!"

"People don't become hunters to lead safe lives Ms. Belladonna. They become hunters because they want something more out of life than money, or safety or even happiness. Their reasons are as unique as their semblances but everyone has one."

Blake really couldn't argue with that. She still believed leaving was the smartest option. Once Adam was gone, she could go back. 'What was your reason?"

Tale smiled, it seemed he had a story ahead of him but he would keep it vague, no need to add to this girl's already heavy burden. "It was a need to find something more out of life. I'm not the hero from the story books, I'm not in it for the thrills, I guess part of it is that I get a choice in my destiny a can create my own path."

"Basically you wanted to be free? No responsibilities none of that?" Blake asked feeling that she was talking to someone a little similar to Yang.

"As Ozpin has probably explained to you, being a hunter is mostly responsibility Ms. Belladonna, there is not much else. You, your friends and family will always come second to your duty as a huntress. Sometimes, it's easier to cast things away." Tale narrowed his eyes, reminiscing about his past, at least that is what Blake assumed.

'is that why you are here? Are you trying to find something you abandoned?" Blake asked, sensing a chance to find out more about her companion. "I cast away… much of what I had, blinding following that belief. I went so far as to change my name, pursuing an ideal. I did what I did by choice, not circumstance. In the end we all have choices of what to do with the time we have. You have made hard choices, so have your friends. Sometimes your decisions are for the best, sometimes they are not."

Tale had a distant look in his silver Eyes, Blake thought she saw a pang of regret and helplessness in them. Did he abandon friends? Maybe Family? For a second she thought this figure was what ruby may become. She suddenly felt a pang of pity for Tale. The look in his eyes lasted only for a moment before he smiled and looked at her again. He cracked open his can of beans and using a small spoon scooped some into his mouth. "So Ms. Belladonna, why do you think leaving is a better decision than staying? If you had stayed Qrow would still be protecting Ms. Xiao-long, and her sister. Instead you leave. There is clearly more to this story."

Blake sighed; she would not be getting out of this. Tale was curious and if living inside a place flooded with Grimm was any indicator, he was clearly capable of forcing her to talk. "Adam Taurus." She said

"A leader in the White Fang, I know of him." Tale said his face darkening.

"He was a friend, Well more of a mentor. He trained to me to fight, how to survive. He was always frustrated at how little we gained after years of protests. When things started to become more extreme he embraced it."

"He blinded himself with anger." Tale confirmed mostly to himself.

"But I feel like I could have stopped it maybe if I did things-"

'Don't do that. If only or maybes are capable of being more destructive to a hunter than any weapon. We make a decision, take action and accept the consequences whatever they may be."

"You certainly sound sure of yourself." Blake said wistfully wishing she were that confident at that moment.

'It is something a mentor of mine told me, I haven't lived up to it very well if truth be told." Tale looked away for a moment before turning back. "We're getting off topic. Why are you going after Adam and the White fang alone?"

"I have a responsibility-"

"To clean up after other people's messes? Why are you going after the White Fang alone? Your team could help you if you waited for them to recover, the White Fang is not going anywhere."

"This is personal."

'So it is about Adam. You feel responsible for him? For what he has become?"

"Partially yes, I know it was his choice, but if I-" Blake paused realizing exactly what she was saying. She was placing some of the burden for Adam on herself, His choices. But Adam never really took her opinion into account. Whatever she wanted, he made his decisions regardless of protest, generally by silencing said protest. He silenced protest brutally. Adam didn't care about her, only what she could do for him. Realizing it now made her blood boil.

Tale looked on with an amused expression. He had intended to make Blake come back, guilt her with stories of Raven's abandonment of Yang. Draw parallels of it to what Blake was doing now. But clearly Blake wasn't going to go back. She couldn't not with her past haunting her. Blake needed to move on, but to do that she needed to face Adam again. Finish what had began over a year ago when she ran from him.

"Blake. I have to leave the day after tomorrow. I can't help you with your war with the White Fang. I have to find Ozpin." Tale said.

"I know." Blake said. Suddenly wishing for some help. When she had started this she hadn't realized how big what she wanted to do was, only that she needed to do it. Perhaps it was childish to try to do it alone. But she wouldn't lose her friends to something like this. She would never be able to move on if she did.

"You know Raven abandoned Yang when she was young. She never stayed by yang's side when yang needed her. Summer had to take that job. Yang has Ruby sure, but she needs a friend." Tale said, wishing for a moment he could offer the poor girl his help. Perhaps after he confirmed Ozpin's whereabouts he could return. But first he would make sure Blake would return to Yang and Team RWBY, Tale didn't like the way he was going to go about it, but he thought it for the best.

"I am her friend." Blake said fiercely

Tale smiled. "Good, Don't leave her be too long. I think she will need a friend pretty soon. Even if it is just to remind her she isn't alone."

"She's strong." Blake responded

"So are many people, that doesn't mean they can do everything by themselves."

"What do you want?" Blake asked.

"When Yang or her dad or someone comes calling and asks for help, go. You're a huntress, not an avenging warrior. Your job is to help people." Tale said kindly. He was certain Blake would return to Team RWBY, maybe not on his schedule, or when it was convenient, but she would return.

Blake slept well that night, she intended to leave the next morning but sore limbs, an open wound and a warm sleeping bag as well as cans of tuna from Tale persuaded her to rest for the day. She slept soundly, dreaming of her happy days at beacon, of her friends. The few times she awoke she remembered what happened to Pyrrha, it was a tragedy, she hadn't known Pyrrha well but she could only imagine what the others were going through. She would be back with them soon enough. She would defeat Adam, crush his contingent of the White Fang and then go back. Back to Beacon, back to Yang, back to team RWBY. She didn't doubt for a moment that she would survive. She had a reason to keep fighting.

Blake went back to sleep quite quickly. Tale smiled as he prepared to leave. He left all the cans of food behind, as well as his dust supplies. He had technically stolen them from downstairs, but he didn't think the owner would complain. Blake was a strong girl and she would pull through. In truth he was more worried for Yang. Part of him wanted to drag Blake right to Yang's room and get her to explain to Yang what she was doing. But as one wiser (and probably drunker) than him had said, making them do something like that would not allow them to grow. They weren't kids anymore and they had to deal with the consequences of their actions.

Tale opened a portal into empty space. the bluish-green glow filled the room. He walked through the portal after dropping a note on the floor. He had given Blake a starting point. What she did from there was up to her. The portal closed as Blake woke up.

Blake turned wondering exactly what that blue glow had been.

"Tale?" She called out. When no response came she stood and started to walk towards the door. She almost slipped on a small piece of paper on the floor. She looked down and picked it up.

Blake,

Had to leave early. Food, ammo and Dust are in the trunk. Feel free to use them. Below are the coordinates for a White Fang outpost I passed before meeting you. Seems like they were taking down camp.

Happy Hunting,

T

Blake smiled slightly. Tale was weird but he seemed like a nice guy. Blake scanned the Coordinates. It seemed to be fairly close to the Emerald Forest. How the hell had he ended up in the middle of the inner city from the forest? Was he trying to fly on the nevermore? She shook her head. She still had basically no idea who he was, but a day of napping had done her some good. He head felt clear, and while she still felt she couldn't face Yang yet, she had faith Yang would pull through, as she had before. Blake walked out of the ruined shop, towards the Emerald Forest. She smiled slightly. Blake narrowed her eyes, thinking of everything the white fang and Adam had done to her and her friends. They would pay. When she was through, Adam wouldn't know what hit him.


	3. Snowfall

"You can do it." She said to Ruby. Weiss was in front of the CCT tower. Pyrrha was at the top, battling Cinder. Weiss hoped they were in time. Ruby launched herself upwards as Weiss turned to fend off the approaching Grimm. A Beowulf on the right charged she dodged, swung deep into its neck then immediately turned to face a ursa. The battle was endless and with that dragon thing circling the CCT it was a matter of time before she was overwhelmed. Delay then leave. I can meet up with Pyrrha and ruby in Vale. She thought to herself She was skilled, very skilled but she couldn't outlast an effectively limitless amount of Grimm.

Mere moments had passed before she heard a scream. "Ruby?" she asked a mix of surprise and concern in her voice. Suddenly there was a blinding white light. It expanded and filled her vision. It was too bright, Weiss felt like she was going to be blown away, Then nothing.

Weiss awoke to see her being carried Sun. "What are you doing here?" She asked weakly. "Awake are we? You'll be fine." Sun said brightly. "I couldn't leave Blake's friends behind, what would she say? Worse she would act all… Blakey again."

Weiss almost smiled at the joke. But exhaustion and concern soon overwhelmed her.

"How is everyone? Did Ruby get Pyrrha to safety?" Sun's expression changed for a second before he smiled again. Weiss could see the smile was forced, it was something she had done countless times while accompanying her father to whatever meeting he requested her presence at. "Everyone's fine, Yang's gonna need a hand, but she will pull through. Everything will be okay." Weiss didn't believe it for a second. Something was wrong, very wrong. What could it be? Was Pyrrha hurt? Was Ruby? Sun quickly shifted his gaze away from Weiss, trying to hide the guilt on his face. That just made Weiss all the more certain something was wrong. She just couldn't imagine with any certainty what. Did it have to do with the bright light near the tower? What had happened while she was out? Finally weis sighed. "Sun put me down." Huh? Sun said turning. "I said put me down." Weiss said, slight annoyance in her voice.

"Don't like being carried by a man?" Sun asked grinning "Think I'm trying to sweep you off your feet?"

A few minutes passed and the bullhead came into view. "Sun!" Weiss repeated more loudly "SUN!"

"Yeesh, fine, fine already." Sun muttered as he leaned to let Weiss slip out of his arms and stand up on her own. Weiss stumbled a bit before regaining her balance.

'Let's go." She said. Sun nodded, She noticed a look of guilt in Sun's eyes. She didn't know what he was hiding, but it was something serious.

They didn't talk until the reached the Bullhead. Weiss saw Yang and Blake. She ran up to them, concern filling her eyes.

Yang had been hurt badly during the battle. She had an arm Severed. For the big brawler to be unconscious was one thing, but now she was awake, delirious but awake. Even then, she remained silent.

Weiss's eyes met Yang's as Weiss got on the bulkhead. There they remained for a moment. Weiss opened her mouth to say something, anything to help her friend, her teammate. But no words came. Yang slowly looked down to her own arm before turning her head away from Weiss entirely. Weiss turned to sit next to Blake. Blake was not in much better shape. She stared blankly out the window at the chaos below.

Weiss put her hand on Blake's shoulder "Blake, It will be alright, we'll get through this." Weiss hoped that Blake would respond, say anything. But she didn't Blake ignored her entirely.

Weiss didn't speak again until after the Bullhead landed. As she got out she saw what could be her worse fears realized.

By a nearby bullhead, Her father, with his clean white mustache and white suit waited. Arms behind his back he stared at her, the order in his eyes clear. Weiss paused for a moment. She heard the clatter as People rushed to get yang out of the bulkhead. She turned away from her Father, she had more important things to worry about right now.

It was not more than an hour since she landed that her father strode into the dusty tent Weiss was sitting in. The camp had been made quickly and Weiss was sitting in one designated for Team RWBY. Yang was asleep on a cot, an IV line in her arm with a bag dangling from the tent frame. There hadn't been much time to collect things from beacon and with the Atlesian soldiers getting medical priority the remaining inured made do with what they had.

"Weiss. It is time to go. Come with me." Her father said with a tone of authority.

"Later." Weiss replied. She didn't know how to react. She was feeling a range of emotions: anger, at the loss of Beacon. Despair, that she could do nothing about it. Fear, for Ruby and her other friends, none of whom she had seen and lastly she felt an emotion she could not describe, apprehension perhaps, at what came next.

"Weiss. You will obey. I let you go to Beacon, and now you have seen the folly of your ways." Her father said calmly, as if what he was saying was fact and not opinion. "it is time for you to come home."

"Later." Weiss again said, a hint of annoyance arising inside of her. She didn't need this now, not with her friends struggling. Ruby was somewhere. Blake had run off and Yang was lying comatose on a bed. What would she think if she was left alone? Friends don't abandon each other. Yang may have been a boisterous, wild childish thrill-seeker, but she was still Weiss's friend. Weiss wouldn't abandon her.

"This is not like you Weiss. I told you to come with me. Now you will come or there will be consequences." He warned.

"Not like me? Not like me? You hardly even know me." Weiss said here temper flaring. "You came home from work and moaned about the white fang, you took your anger out on us, on me and Winter. You never asked what we liked or didn't like. You never cared. Why should I believe you care now?"

"Weiss Octavia Schnee, I will come with me this instant, if you do not-"

"You'll what, throw me in jail? Force me to stay in Atlas? I am staying here until my friend gets up. Then I will go. But not a moment sooner." Weiss said. Here she was, lecturing a man who with a wave of his hand could get her thrown in the back of a bullhead without a moment's delay.

Weiss's father froze, his face a mix of anger, surprise and shock. Weiss waited for the moment when it would all burst out as rage, as it had when she was younger. Instead, his face morphed into one of shame. He exhaled loudly and sat in a small fold out chair that was sitting, unused in the tent. He intertwined his fingers and rested his forehead against them.

"Fine." He muttered "I've seen that look before. I won't make that mistake yet again." He said the sound of defeat clear in his voice.

"But the minute she wakes up, the minute her sister or her uncle or another member of your team comes shows up, we are leaving. If you refuse I am having you thrown in the back of the bullhead with the luggage for the trip back to Atlas."

Weiss was stunned. Her father was not the sort of man to just give up. Weiss had basically yelled at him and his response was "ok"? It was absurd. Her father was brash, authoritarian, cold, cruel and abusive. The man in front of her was acting very differently than the father she knew. For a moment she wondered if this man was actually her father.

It was almost two hours before General James Ironwood walked into the tent. Both Schnees stood immediately. "General Ironwood!" Weiss exclaimed. "Where's Ruby? How are Jaune and Pyrrha? Are they Ok?"

Ironwood looked tired and less than comfortable being here. "Jaune is fine, we got into contact with him about half a hour ago, there is a bulkhead on its way to pick him up. Qrow picked up Ruby, they are safe. As for Pyrrha…" Suddenly he looked away, ever so slightly. Weiss's heart sank. "I don't have all the information but…" he exhaled and looked at Weiss with a intensity that would have made most people shrink away. But the fierce gaze had a deep sadness, a regret a remembrance of the countless times he had told others the exact same thing he was about to tell Weiss. "So far, it appears she died while fighting on top of the CCT tower. Your peer, no, your friend sacrificed herself for the better of all."

"No." Weiss said. The knowledge floored her. She did not know what to say. Ruby was there, she had seen Pyrrha die what did that do to someone as innocent as her? Then there was Jaune, he would be damaged, probably badly by the entire ordeal. Those two had been very close, She sometimes suspected that Pyrrha was attracted to the Dolt, but that didn't matter anymore. She looked down. Her father looked on in silence.

"My daughter has had a stressful day. We are waiting for her friends to return then we are leaving." He said, seemingly not noticing the shock that the previous revelations had been. "Of course." Ironwood responded "however, Ruby Rose is at home and Blake Belladonna is nowhere to be found."

"What?" Said a voice weakly. Weiss spun around and looked at yang. She was awake.

"yang! You shouldn't exert yourself."

"What happened? Weiss? You safe. Where's ruby and Blake?" Yang asked in a tired and frail voice.

'Ruby's fine. Get some rest we can talk later." Weiss said. Suddenly she felt Ynag grab her arm. The grip was strong not full strength but surprisingly fierce for the weakened Huntress.

"I heard you dad. Don't trust him." Yang said before collapsing again.

"I don't." Weiss muttered. She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, it is time to leave." Weiss turned to argue but Ironwood spoke first "I agree, I will personally make sure Yang Xiao-long gets home safely. I give you my word." Weiss opened her mouth to speak but Ironwood held up his hand "It is admirable to want to be with your friend at this time. I know how you feel but you must realize that this is a temporary camp; the area is safe for now, but tomorrow? The day after? There is no guarantee that it will remain that way for long. It is best to get people out of the camp as quickly as possible. That means going home." Weiss nodded, she did not like it but she understood the words of wisdom. "Mr. Schnee, I don't mean to trouble you but I think I should speak to your daughter, as fellow huntsman." Schnee simply stood looking less than pleased "In private Mr. Schnee." James Ironwood prodded, clearly annoyed that his hint was not being understood. Weiss's father simply nodded before briskly walking outside.

"Weiss," Ironwood started changing his tone to something almost paternal 'I know what that man is like, Winter told me what he did. If I thought I could do anything I swear I would. But right now my hands are tied."

'How so?" Weiss asked concerned.

"Things are not as they should be in Atlas and the SDC has its fingers in everything. I can't make a move against your father even with Winter pushing for it."

"The system would collapse?" Weiss guessed. She supposed the government in Atlas was much more fragile than she used to think.

"It's more complicated than that. I can't get into specifics but I promise you this. If you need anything just ask. Winter will be getting leave soon, I need her thinking about her mission, not her little sister and that means she needs to see you." With that he turned and left, presumably to call her father back into the tent.

Part of Weiss was elated by the fact winter would be visiting. But another part was uncomfortable with the fact that She had little choice other than to return home. She could run to Ruby's but she would be imposing. Ruby wouldn't mind and neither would Yang, but what about their father? Weiss's father would likely pursue just to make sure that he didn't become a global laughingstock he would never take his daughter running away sitting down.

In truth, his concession earlier would just make her look unwilling to be cooperative. Nobody could blame him for bringing his daughter home even against her will. Weiss almost shook with the absurdity that her opinions, even after all she achieved would likely be dismissed because of her age. Simply because her father was just that: her father. Then a thought struck her, and a mischievous grin appeared on her face.

"two can play at this game." Weiss knew exactly what she would do. She could help Ruby and Yang even if she wasn't there in person, use the SDC's information networks to help, maybe pull strings with Winter. The best part nobody would suspect a thing, she could help without anyone being the wiser. She felt like laughing maniacally but stopped just short. Her father re-entered the tent.

"Weiss it is time to go." He said sternly a subtle steel in his voice.

She nodded. "Of course Father." She said as she turned and nodded.

She glanced back at Yang's unconscious form she felt like this was cruel, leaving her like this, nobody here to help her. Weiss couldn't do anything yet but soon she could. Soon she would support them from Atlas. Team RWBY was not gone. They were battered and bruised but not beaten just yet. She followed her father onto the bullhead and smirked at his confident stride. He thought he could control her, he hadn't even talked to her since she started to attend Beacon. He didn't look at her, didn't notice the smirk or the hidden danger he had unleashed in the form of his own daughter. He was acting foolishly, and past assumptions of who she was, told to him by servants who had never truly cared. Her father had been cruel and abusive, but never this foolish. This wouldn't be easy, he was a smart man. But then again doing truly important and worthwhile things rarely was as easy as it all seemed. When this was over Team RWBY would be back together and those who had done this to vale, to beacon to Weiss's family would pay dearly.

Weiss sat calmly in the seat next to her father. She felt a sudden unease and turned to look at her father as the Bulkhead rose from the ground. He stared straight ahead, ignorant of his daughter yet again. Weiss turned her head to look out the window. Ahead of her was atlas, she was apprehensive but steeled herself for the battles to come. Battles waged through words and trickery rather than swords. It would be a learning experience. She thought to herself, trying to imagine it like school. She felt a pang in her heart as she thought of Ruby, Yang and Blake. They truly cared for her in a way no one else, not even her sister did. She felt herself filled with a new resolve. She was a Huntress and the Hunt was only just beginning.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Parts of it still feel rushed and I may come back an edit it at a later point once I have improved as a writer. This was the hardest chapter yet. Qrow was an easy one and Blake was not much more difficult. This one was really hard. I had the basic idea but not much else. It kind of came together as it went.

Next up is likely the Yang chapter. It will be the most difficult chapter yet so It will probably take me at least two weeks to get a chapter finished. Yang is my favorite character on Team RWBY so I am going to try to get into what is really going on to her head. After that will be Juane and Ruby. Depending on what storyline plays out in my head, I might tackle the Juane one first simply because I feel that he has a lot of potential for character growth now that someone so important to him is dead. As always, follow, favorite and/or review! Thanks for reading!


	4. Yang: The Huntress and the Raven

Images.

Adam Taurus stabbing Blake, the scream of pain.

Yang charging Adam, the crimson red blade swinging down moments later. Yang felt the bite of steel for only a second. Then everything went black.

Yang awoke in a cot. She felt sore all over and drained. She looked over to see Weiss arguing with her own father. Yang heard it all and every nerve in her body warned her not to trust Weiss's dad. It was a terrible idea. She grabbed Weiss and felt her head swim.

"Don't trust him," She said quickly. She tried to stay awake but the darkness returned and she collapsed again.

Next time she awoke she was sitting in the back of a bullhead. He tried to rise groggily on to have an armored hand rest on her shoulder. "You shouldn't get up to quickly. You were badly injured."

Part of Yang wanted to punch the man in the gut or preferably the face. She turned her head preparing to glare at the man. As she turned she saw her arm.

Or at least what was left of it.

She looked down in horror and confusion as she saw the bloody bandages wrapped around the stump of her arm. Almost as suddenly as the rage rose in her it vanished. She simply stared at the bloody stump. She thought back to what had happened to the White Fang, Yang guessed it was that Adam person. He hurt Blake and cut her arm off. Blake!

"Is Blake okay?" Yang asked quickly, still half laying down half sitting.

"Excuse me?" The armored figure asked.

"Blake Belladonna how is she?" Yang asked frustration once again leaking into her voice.

"Oh! Uh, Ms. Belladonna left as soon as the bullhead touched down." The atlas soldier said bluntly.

Yang didn't respond. Something inside her broke. Blake had left, why? There wasn't a goodbye, not even a note. Was she running away again? Was she running away from Team RWBY, Beacon and even Yang? Didn't she know that they could support her? Was it Adam? Was it some personal vendetta? Was it something that Blake hadn't told them? Yang simply could not understand why Blake would have abandoned her team. Why Blake would have abandoned her partner.

Yang didn't speak again on the Bullhead. She waited for several hours. Then for a brief moment there was a crackle over the loudspeakers.

"Island of Patch straight ahead. ETA: five minutes." A crackling voice said.

Yang didn't react. At this point she barely even recognized the name. She didn't react they landed near her house. She didn't react as two Atlesian soldiers helped her into a wheelchair. She barely reacted to seeing her father as the Bullhead door opened.

Taiyang simply stared at his daughter as she was brought off the bullhead. She looked exhausted. She had bags under her eyes; her normally perfect hair was frizzy and dirty. Her eyes were staring off into the distance. As she got closer Taiyang drew his eyes to the one thing he knew was coming but dreaded. Yang had lost an arm. As two Atlesian soldiers approached with his daughter Taiyang dropped to his knees and put his hand on his daughter's.

"Yang it will be alright, we will get you through this. You are not-"

"Alone? Dad you have no idea." Yang said in an almost monotone voice. Taiyang's heart broke at hearing his normally bright and cheerful daughter speak like that. She had lost hope.

"Let's get you inside." He said, deciding Yang had just had a hard day. The two atlesian soldiers saluted and marched back to the bullhead. Taiyang watched as the bullhead took off and faded into the distance. Then he turned to Yang "your sister will be happy to see you." He said. Yang did not respond.

Taiyang sighed as he wheeled Yang into their house, hoping that things would improve in the days ahead. Qrow was still inside, taking care of Ruby, maybe he and Ruby would be able to get Yang past whatever that had happened. They had been there.

Taiyang looked at his daughter and a shiver shot down his spine. He had seen that look in another woman's eyes. Yang's mother Raven had looked like that right before she left. Taiyang desperately hoped, prayed that he would not lose another person he cared about not to raven's mission, not to the Grimm and not to Ozpin's war. His family had suffered too much, he didn't think he, or any of them could handle any more loss.

For the next few days Yang was silent. She looked down at her food. She was still in bed. She wore a tank top and a pair of pajama pants. The food on the tray in front of her was cold. It was breakfast, cereal ad strawberries. When she was younger, strawberries had been her favorite fruit; Summer had planted some strawberry plants so they wouldn't have to purchase the overpriced strawberries at the grocer. It hadn't worked all that well. Yang and Ruby would sit outside and pop strawberries in their mouths all day. Needless to say Summer had to buy more of strawberries from the grocer to feed their veracious appetites.

That was so long ago and everything had changed. Yang had made new friends and had lost them too. Even Blake had left her, gone off to do who knows what. Yang knew inside that Blake blamed herself for what had happened to Yang, but it didn't help, it only made Yang feel more angry and bitter about it. Yang heard the door creak open. She turned to look at the tall figure who walked in.

"Uncle Qrow." Yang said. Only a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Hey kiddo. How are you holding up?" Qrow asked, concern in his voice

"Does it really matter?" Yang asked rhetorically.

"Yang, this has been hard for you." Qrow started. Pulling a chair up and sitting down on it. His pale shirt highlighted against the rest of the dark room. "But you have to snap out of it. Blake will be back."

"I' sure that's what you told dad about my mom." Yang responded bitterly. Qrow looked at her, Qrow's expression made him look as if he had just been slapped. For a moment Yang noticed a hint of rage, a bit of fury in his eyes. But it only lasted a second. Qrow sighed and slid his hand through his hair.

"I don't agree with what your mom has done. I don't agree with her on a lot of things, but I know that sometimes things don't go as planned. What she wanted was thrown out of the equation."

"She abandoned me!" Yang shouted her eyes glowing red.

"She shouldn't have." Qrow agreed calmly, his voice stern. "But Raven and Blake are different people."

"Blake ran! She didn't say a word! She just left!"

"Ask yourself why."

"I don't care!" Yang shouted swinging what was left of her right arm, trying to smash a wall. When nothing happened, Yang paused before turning to stare once again at the stump. For a few seconds she said nothing. Qrow was silent. Then Yang felt her eyes water and she broke down in tears.

"Yang." Qrow whispered, his voice filled with sympathy he reached out his arm to put it on Yang's shoulder. Quick as a flash Yang slapped the arm away.

"Leave me alone!" She screamed, tears falling down her face she curled up in a ball, knees to her chest. "Leave me alone." She said again her voice shaking. Qrow rubbed his arm. It hurt like hell, Yang only ha done arm now but she was still incredibly strong. He sighed and picked up the dishes, uneaten from Yang's bed.

"I'll be back with dinner later." He said. When Yang didn't respond he stood and walked out the door. "Your not alone kiddo. Remember that." He said before he walked out the door, closing it quietly behind him.

Qrow walked down the stairs to the kitchen. He placed the dishes gingerly in the sink and planted his hands on the pale tile of the kitchen counter. He took a short sip from a canteen.

"How'd it go?" Said a familiar voice from behind him. Qrow turned and sighed.

"Pretty badly Tai. She's in… rough shape." Qrow said.

"She'll pull through, she's like her mother that way." Taiyang responded walking to the kitchen table before sitting and crossing his legs. He looked confident in his belief that she would pull through, but his voice told a different story.

"She's not just shaken Tai, this isn't like when Summer died, or when she almost got herself and Ruby killed. She placed her trust in someone who then abandoned her without a word. You know what that can do to people."

"You think she'll turn out like Raven? Abandon everyone she loves for her mission? Yang is my daughter, I know her. She won't be like that, she's too kind."

"I believe you said something like that about Raven too. And you remember how that ended." Qrow pointed out.

Yang was a lot like Taiyang she acted fairly similarly to how he had at beacon, but she had more than a little of Raven Branwen in her as well. This might be enough to push Yang over the edge.

"When can we get her a prosthetic? The sooner she feels like she has two arms again the better." Taiyang said, changing subjects.

"I've already called that idiot, he said he might be able to get her one by next month but with the chaos in Vale right now, it could be upwards of three." Qrow said morosely, James ironwood would certainly try to help, he was a misguided idiot but as Ozpin had said, he always meant well.

"I need to leave tonight." Qrow said suddenly, his thoughts drifting back to Cinder and Ozpin.

"Qrow, you can't, not now. Things are…"

"Things are bad out there Taiyang, they aren't getting better. I need to be on the move, I'll stay for dinner, and I'll try to be back in a week or two."

Taiyang rubbed his face. He was exhausted. Ruby was still unconscious and he was more than a little scared for his younger daughter, he probably was worried that she would wake up and start acting like Yang was. Something was broken in Yang.

Qrow knew what might help, He excused himself and walked into the living room before he opened his scroll and flipped through his contacts. He tapped on one and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" a voice picked up after the first ring.

"It's Qrow, did you find her?"

"Yeah, she's fine for now."

"Is she coming back?"

"Not on her life, guilting her into coming back seemed rather counter-productive too."

"Can you come back? I have someone you need to talk to."

'Yang Xiao long?"

"Yep."

"Qrow, What can I say that you didn't? She doesn't know me at all. And I won't talk about Blake." The voice said strongly.

"Why not?" Qrow asked, hoping there wasn't a real reason.

"She needs to sort these things out for herself." The voice said vaguely

Qrow grimaced; he was hoping that he could persuade Tale into talking about Blake, convincing Yang that Blake hadn't abandoned her. That wouldn't work it seemed. Dumb ethical obligations, why did Ozpin make Tale take that damn ethics course at Sanctum? How did teleportation have any ethical implications? And why didn't Tale take a hint that an Ethics course for hunters was a chance for a high-quality nap?

Qrow rubbed the bridge of his nose. He'd have to persuade tale face to face "When can you get here?"

"Now." Said a voice behind him. Qrow twirled around grabbing the handle of his weapon. In front of him was a silver eyed, brown haired Ozpin-lookalike. Today he was dressed in jeans and knitted white and blue long-sleeved shirt. He had cut his hair it was in more of a buzz-cut style now than it used to be. He wore a black leather belt from which hung a sword, tellingly similar to RaveTale hadn't used that weapon in years. More concerning however, was that Tale also had a bandaged hand. He looked worse for the wear and tired. Taiyang would be pleased this time he wouldn't be puking on the floor however.

"What happened?" Qrow asked.

"Few too many ursa major and Borbatsusks. Wandered into a rather large gathering of them." Tale said nonchalantly glancing at his hand. "My weapon eventually broke. Had to take the rest down by hand."

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "How many were there?" Qrow asked.

Tale shrugged turning his head to avoid Qrow's stare. "Not many."

"Not many as in ten or not many as in two hundred?" Qrow pressed.

"I needed the practice." Tale replied grinning. Qrow groaned. "No wonder Raven called you a berserker."

Tale's eyes hardened, he pointed a finger at Qrow "That nickname was entirely undeserved and baseless."

"You beat up twelve hunters in a bar."

"I was drunk!"

"You were fifteen."

"Sixteen and they started it." Tale corrected frustrated that Qrow was clearly enjoying messing with him. Qrow was smilingly widely. The smile was gone in a flash as Qrow sighed and looked at Tale again.

"How did the talk with Blake go?"

"She'll come back."

"When?"

Tale shrugged then raised his arms in defeat when Qrow glared at him. "I don't know. She will definitely come back but she has to deal with personal stuff first." He paused, waiting for a response. "I couldn't get her to come back! As I said on the phone, bringing her kicking and screaming seemed like a bad idea!"

"Did you even try?"

"In a roundabout way yes."

"Let me rephrase my question, did you ask her: 'Blake, please talk to Yang? "

"That would be a no." Tale responded trying to smile. Qrow resisted the urge to slug the young hunter into next week. Tale had been given one job, one job find and bring back Blake Belladonna. Did he do it? No, he did something else; he was as infuriating as Ozpin could be, and not half as good as reasoning himself out of these situations.

"Look, I need you to talk to Yang and get her back on her feet. This isn't a game, she needs to know Blake is still there for her, that things will be all right, that she can move forward." Qrow explained, at this point almost begging.

Tale looked at him, "I'm not some sort of therapist, I'm not a psychologist Qrow."

"I know that, but you said Blake turned out well."

"I think, how the hell should I know if she will still be alive in five days? In ten? She's at war with White Fang."

"You are-"

"One of Ozpin's Shadows, we aren't therapists and we aren't exactly the most morally upstanding hunters, I don't think I can help." Tale said.

"Just try. Being an objective outsider's viewpoint might be just what she needs to get her over the wall." Qrow said waving his arms in exasperation. Tale simply sighed in defeat and nodded. Her turned and headed toward the kitchen to say the usual pleasantries to Taiyang. Qrow smiled, Tale would almost certainly let it slip that he had seen Blake Yang would press for more info, and then Tale would break. He might be fighting a war in the shadows, but he was too kind for his own good.

Yang tuned to see the door open. "Not interested dad." Yang said glumly.

"Sorry Ms. Xiao-long but I'm not your dad." The man said before walking in.

Yang looked and immediately thought of a younger Ozpin, Part of her wondered if Ozpin had a dozen girlfriends when he was younger another part wondered if this guy had a girlfriend. But most of her dreaded what she knew was coming.

"No, no and yes." The man said. Pulling the wooden chair from Yang's desk and sitting in it. He looked at Yang in the eyes. His silver eyes were different than ruby's. They were the same color, but the emotion reflected in them was completely different. Whereas Ruby's eyes reflected hope and love. This man's reflected darker emotions.

"What do you want?" Yang demanded. 'I'm not interested in playing doctor right now."

"My name's Tale. What do you want to do?" tale asked crossing his legs and leaning back in the chair.

"You should leave then."

"Nope." He said in a light voice. Yang spun at him her eyes turning red. "I recommend you leave."

"Nope." He said again. Yang stared at him in confusion. There was not a hint of fear.

"Yang, why are you still in bed? The Yang I heard about would be up and about talking about designing a weaponized cybernetic arm." Yang instinctively looked at what was left if her arm, her eyes changing back to their lilac color and her face fell. Tale knew immediately that he had said the wrong thing.

"Are you worried about Blake?"

"No, she left without a word. Why would I care about someone who abandoned me?"

"Because she is your friend."

"Was my friend. She's betrayed me, abandoned me, left me alone."

"Did she abandon you before? How do you know she abandoned you? Is it possible-"

"Shut up!" Yang screamed, her aura flaring. The force of her aura physically pushed Tale back. He nearly fell of the chair from the initial burst. He was a little bit shocked. Yang's aura quickly faded.

"I just want to be alone. I need to sort things out for myself." She said quietly, turning to look out the window. Tale noticed a single raven sitting on the tree, seeming to stare at him intently. He sighed.

"That you do Yang, but that doesn't mean you have to travel the entire journey alone. Just remember that." He warned her. He didn't think she would listen; she was too much like Raven. He stood and left the room without uttering another word. The door closed behind him with a quiet click.

Yang didn't notice. She didn't really even care. "Ruby, what happened? So much for Beacon being good times." She muttered to nobody in particular. The raven outside her window cawed. "Shoo." She said through the window, glaring at the bird. The raven turned and flew off. Yang knew it would be back; it would always be there when she awoke.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
A week later

"I don't care Ruby." Yang said. Ruby stopped speaking and her eyes fell. The look on her face was more than Yang could bear. "Go away. I want to be alone." She said. Ruby turned and walked out the door.

"Yang." She started. Pausing for a moment. "I love you." Ruby finished before closing the door behind her. Yang didn't respond. Instead, she waited for a few moments, the emotions inside her bubbling. She grabbed her sheets with her remaining hand and screamed. The scream was high and throaty and lasted a few seconds before she broke down into tears.

"Why? Did you leave Blake?" She asked herself. She turned as she heard a cawing from her window. She stared at the raven sitting on a branch. "Why are you always there?" She asked staring intently. Quickly, she grabbed her pillow and threw it at the window with all the force she could muster. "Go away!" She shouted. The glass wasn't even cracked. The raven cocked its head, perhaps in confusion, before it flew off.

Yang wondered if the raven was special or maybe it was just stupid. But moment later she decided it didn't matter. Nothing really did. She had failed to achieve anything she had set out to do at beacon. She failed to make friends. she failed to find out why her mom left, she failed to protect Ruby; not only that but to add insult to injury, she had lost an arm and Pyrrha had died.

Yang leaned her head on the wall, her once clean blonde hair now knotted and messy. "Pyrrha, why did you do that? What did you have to gain?" Yang asked. She wondered if their positions were changed; if Yang had been there instead of Pyrrha, would she have done the same. She doubted it. Destiny that damn thing Pyrrha had always talked about was a waste of time.

There was no such thing as destiny; she had always known that, part of her had always thought Pyrrha was silly for believing in it. But she never imagined that it would get Pyrrha killed.

Yang closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep. Maybe she would feel better after some rest.

"Who am I kidding? It's hard to lie to yourself." She muttered a few moments later. She looked out the window. The raven was back.

Taiyang watched as Ruby quietly walked down the stairs. "Ruby! You shouldn't be up!" He said rushing over to his daughter. He stopped just before reaching her and looked into her eyes. There was pain and confusion there.

"It'll be alright Ruby." He said spreading his arms to hug her. Quickly she into his arms and burst into tears. Taiyang patted her head softly as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Pyrrha's dead, Yang's hurt, my team's gone." She whimpered through her sobs. Taiyang's face fell. He knew the Ruby couldn't see it, and he was glad for that. His face was contorted with the pain of his daughter's losses. They had lost just about everything they held dear. They had also lost their innocence, the youthful naivety that allows them to see the world as something almost completely bright and beautiful.

Slowly Ruby's sobs subsided. Taiyang, who had been holding her off the ground as she sobbed on his shoulder, slowly lowered her to the floor. She wiped her eyes.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

'Everyone needs a good cry." Taiyang said easily. "Let's get you some milk and cookies. We can talk and enjoy ourselves." Ruby nodded and quietly walked off to the kitchen. But there wasn't a bright smile on her face.

Taiyang sighed. This was concerning. Nothing had been the same since the Vytal Massacre, as they were calling it on the Vale News Network. He would have to work hard to get things back to normal. Summer had always been better at that. "How much I wish you were here Summer." He muttered hoping that Ruby hadn't heard him. He followed her into the kitchen and hoped for better times to come soon.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Two weeks later.

"You can't just stay in here Yang!"

"Ruby, shut up!"

"I'm your sister! I'm worried about you!"

"Your acting like you're my mom! Get out!" Yang screamed, throwing a pillow angrily at Ruby. Ruby didn't move as the pillow sailed past her and hit the wall with a thud.

"Look at yourself! What the hell happened?" Ruby exclaimed.

Yang reeled back in shock; it was partly due to hearing Ruby swear, but mostly because of the flood of thoughts that went through her head. The rising anger demanding release burst forth from yang.

Yang stood her aura glowing around her as parts of the floor blackened from the heat.

"What the hell happened Ruby? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? EVERYTHING!" She roared. "Blake left! No goodbyes, no apologies! I saved her life! I lost an arm trying to save her! I thought she was my friend! Then she ups and abandons me! She was my partner, I thought she was my friend!" Thy words kept flowing, tumbling out as if they had a life of their own.

"And you! A fifteen-year-old girl, march in here and tell me to just get over it! You're an idiot! You haven't lost anything at all!"

"I have!"

"Pyrrha? Yeah you saw a person die! It was bound to happen! How about you get over that before telling me to get over this!"

Ruby stiffened at the words, filled with anger and misdirected hate. She could argue with Yang all day, to no avail. Yang was still angry, Ruby supposed she had a right to be. It had only been around a month since Beacon had fallen. They couldn't go anywhere for a while. The CCT would supposedly be down to the public for another three weeks. Only priority calls were allowed through.

Ruby looked down at her feet. She didn't want to fight with her sister, she couldn't stand the fighting. "I'll leave you alone then." She said quietly "Just do your thing." With that Ruby turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Yang once again let out a sigh. She gritted her teeth. She had hurt Ruby. She had hurt the one person she wanted to protect above all others. Yang felt tears in her eyes again. She wiped them away angrily.

"I won't cry. I'm not a child anymore."

One month later

Yang heard a knocking on her door. Yang sighed. She waited before the knocking was heavier this time. Again Yang did not respond.

"Qrow, don't go in there." She heard her father whisper

"She's moping around like a child, it's time she grew a pair and moved forward"

"She's a girl!"

"I meant it figuratively Tai!"

"You are not invading my daughters room!" Her father's muffled voice exclaimed. She heard shuffling outside the door.

"Tai get off of me!"

"No!"

"She made Ruby cry. It's time she moved forward and apologized!" Qrow hissed.

"She will in her own time!"

"Not like this she won't!"

Yang rolled her eyes She got out of bed and strode towards the door. She reached up with her arm and opened the door quickly.

Qrow was halfway in the air, his legs flailing and his arms struggling against her father's grasp. He was being held over the balcony and was clearing trying to avoid being dropped. Taiyang had him in a bear hug his broad arms wrapped around Qrow's upper arms. Both looked like they had blood murder in their eyes. Qrow turned his head. And stared at Yang for a few seconds. He paused as dawning realization was upon him.

"Hi yang." He said meekly, His face moving through confusion to shock in only a few seconds. Taiyang immediately released Qrow, causing him to plummet to the floor below with an audible crack.

"Yang, Qrow and I are worried-"

"Stop. I'm fine. Just leave me alone." Yang said, turning and attempting to close the door behind her. Eventually she found she couldn't. She looked down at the floor and saw a leather boot planted between the door and the frame. She followed the boot up past the yellow pants and sleeveless shirt to her father's face. His eyes hardened.

"Yang Xiao Long, You have avoided us for close to a month! I am not going to accept this from my daughter!"

"What do you know?" yang exclaimed, frustrated that she was going to have the same conversation over and over again with different people.

"Clearly not enough!" Taiyang roared, causing his daughter to shrink back. Taiyang pushed open the door and stormed into his daughter's room.

"Yang you are trying to push everyone away! You refuse to explain why and when anyone tries to help you lash out!"

"You don't understand!"

"Then explain it to me!"

"You can't help!"

"How do you know? Blake is gone, for now. Instead of assuming that you know the truth why don't you try to find it out!

'How, with one arm? I'm useless! I can't fight!"

"Get a cybernetic one and train! No Duh! Stop trying acting like a damsel in distress!"

"Shut up!"

"Yang Xiao Long! Are you some damsel who needs to be saved! Four months ago you would have slugged me for the accusation! Now look at you when was the last time you even threw a punch?"

He's right. But I'm weak now. I can't fight with just one arm. Yang thought as tears came once again. She held them in doing her best not to show that weakness.

Taiyang stood at his full height. He sighed and turned around. "You need to get over this yang or it will destroy you. Don't let your sadness consume you." He said voice full of terrible knowledge and maybe a hint of guilt. He walked out and closed the door behind him. There was complete silence. Yang sat on her behind and stared at her one hand.

"What now?" She asked. She heard a faint knocking on the window. She turned to see the same raven as always now perched on her windowsill, pecking at the window.

"You just won't go away will you? What do you want this time?" She asked, voice full of resignation. The raven kept pecking at the window. Yang groaned then opened the window

"Let me strangle you, then you'll stop bothering me. She muttered, however there was no malice behind her voice, not like she could catch a raven with one arm. The raven flew into the room in a flash. Yang's head whipped to where the raven should have been instead there was woman.

Yang's eyes widened in recognition the raven black hair, the red eyes the sword on her hip. Raven Branwen smiled slightly. "Yang, We have a lot to talk about."

"What are you doing here?" Yang demanded.

'Yang, It's time for you to move on." Raven said, ignoring the question. Raven dragged the chair by yang's desk to the bed.

'A team can be a strength or a weakness." She said quickly. 'look, a chair has four legs. They allow you to balance on the seat when you sit."

'What does this have to do with anything?" yang asked, her temper rising. She abandons me for years and now she just shows up? What the hell is with her? Yang thought.

Raven seemed not to notice Yang's anger or frustration as she continued. "All four are equally important. When one is lost…" Quickly she kicked one of the legs of the chair, snapping it off quickly and with an audible crack. "The chair is quickly unbalanced." She said wiggling the chair to show her point.

"With three a chair can still stand, it simply takes more effort, it's the same with a hunter team." Quickly she broke another of the chair's legs.

"With two it is even harder." Raven broke a third leg.

"With only one. Only a few an keep a chair balanced" She said as she let the chair drop to the floor with a thud.

"What does this have to do with me?" Yang asked, now thoroughly confused.

Raven sat on her bed and turned to her with a sad smile. "Yang, a few things happen that can throw a good hunter of track. But those things happen. How does one deal with it?"

"Pull through and continue?"

"That's coping Yang, Coping does not solve anything. Right now you are coping, trying to forget. The only thing that does is make you weaker."

"I am sure you know a lot about coping and running away." Yang snapped, the look on Raven's face made her immediately regret her response.

"You right Yang. I do know a lot about it. It's always easier to run than it is to stay. It's easier to keep things the same than to adapt to change. But we don't grow of we don't change. Instead we will stagnate and eventually die." Raven said, her expression pure seriousness, as if this was the one message she wanted her child to know. The one piece of wisdom she wanted to make absolutely sure her child understood. Yang looked down at hand imagining having another again. There was silence for a moment.

"Why did you leave?" Yang asked suddenly. "Why didn't you stay, what was more important than me? What-"

Raven quickly pulled her daughter into a hug. She held her tight, it reminded Yang of how she used to bear hug Ruby, before this all happened.

"There is so much you don't know, so much that this world demands and many dark secrets that no one should have to bear. It's a world where only the fittest survive, it's cruel and sometimes it doesn't make sense. I can't tell you why but I promise it was to keep you safe."

Raven released her hold on Yang gently. She smiled slightly before standing. She held a hand out to Yang.

"It's time for you to actually get up." She said. Yang reached out and took her hand. Raven quickly pulled Yang to her feet. She smiled at Yang "The rest is of course, up to you."

With that Raven let go of Yang. She walked past yang quickly and looked out the window. She turned her head and looked at Yang with a slight smile.

"It's a shame, but I have to go." She said. "Don't give up, I expect to see you again in the future."

Yang nodded, her face tight, trying to hide the flood of emotions. Raven turned and leapt out the window, vanishing quickly. A raven flew past the window before vanishing into the sky.

Yang looked down. She sat on her bed and stared at the stump of her arm. Her mom hadn't said much, but it gave her a lot to think about. She was weak as she was, but maybe, she could become stronger again. She looked out the window and saw Jaune.

"What's he doing here?" She asked herself as Nora and Ren came into view behind him. She pulled herself back into bed and watched for a few moments. She saw Ruby walk out the door and stand to greet them.

She's leaving. Yang thought feeling a pang of sadness at the thought. She's grown while I… I've just stagnated. She looked down in shame as Ruby walked away. She didn't notice Ruby glancing at her window, or the sadness on her face.

Yang looked out the window again and saw Ruby and the others walking away. Quickly yang smiled slightly.

"I'll have to find out where they're going." She said to herself. She's have to train and get a plan as well as an arm. Then she'd find Blake, Beat the crap out of the sword bastard and then drag Blake back with her, Find Qrow, and meet up with Ruby. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, everything really but there wasn't a point in thinking about that.

"And when I see them, I'll make another Yang joke." She mumbled. She turned and got out of bed, she walked over to the door. She smiled as she opened it. Looking out on the hallway. Well, time to get to training. She said quickly.

"Yang! It's ruby!" She heard her dad shout. Panic in his voice. Yang groaned first deal with dad and then train. She thought.

"I'm coming!" She said.

Hey, she needed to give ruby a head start; otherwise it wouldn't be any fun!


	5. Red Like Roses

Three months ago

Ruby could only watch helpless as she saw Cinder's arrow fly through the air. She watched as Pyrrha lurched back, the arrow piercing her chest. Ruby saw her friend gasp for air as Cinder simply placed her hand on Pyrrha's head. Pyrrha froze before slowly disintegrating.

It took Ruby a few moments to realize what had happened. To realize that Pyrrha was gone, gone forever and that nothing, no one could ever bring her back. She felt the tear well in her eyes, she felt her body tense, then flood with power.

"Pyrrha!" Ruby screamed. The world vanished in a bright white light

"What?" Cinder exclaimed, confused as to what was happening. The Dragon Grimm howled. And below Weiss saw a bright white light, like nothing she had seen before.

Ruby collapsed on the floor of what remained of Ozpin's office The rubble around her hardly being a good testament to the battle that had been waged, the lives that had been lost and the innocence that had been destroyed.

Flashes

Flashes were all Ruby remembered. Qrow picking her up, a bright green door of light and then nothing.

Ruby awoke a few days after everything that had happened. Her father was sitting on a stool next to her bed when she awoke.

"Dad?" She asked

"Take it easy." He said quickly.

He filled her in on what had happened a Beacon. Their greatest defeat yet. Ozpin was missing the dragon wasn't dead. Beacon was lost, flooded with Grimm and yet worst of all, at least to Ruby, Was that Pyrrha and Penny were dead.

"Pyrrha and penny on the same day, why?" Ruby wondered as she sat in bed, Tears welled in her eyes as she started to cry again. She didn't feel like talking. Not even when Qrow came in.

"Tai, I'd like to talk with Ruby." He said calmly, his red eyes boring holes into Ruby's father. Taiyang stared back challengingly but he eventually relented and walked away.

Qrow sat down and looked at his niece. Look in his eyes told nothing, his face revealed nothing, not what he was thinking nor what he was feeling. The layers of fear and dread, the vague knowledge of what was coming.

Ruby stared back intently, hoping, begging that something would change, some joke or piece of humor, a hand on her head, anything to say things were going to be okay. Qrow did none of it.

"What did Ozpin say to you the first time you met?" He asked.

"Huh?" Qrow turned and walked toward the bookshelf facing away from ruby.

"he said you had silver eyes." Qrow said.

"how did you know?" Ruby Asked.

"Your special Ruby, and not in daddy's loves his special girl way." Qrow hesitated to say more, knowing what he was about to unleash.

"there's a legend Ruby, about people with silver eyes." Qrow began.

And so began ruby's toughest training yet.

Two months later…

"faster!" Qrow barked, twisting his wrist slightly as he knocked Ruby's scythe away. The two of them were in Tai's backyard, or at least what was left of it. The once green backyard now appeared to be a warzone. Qrow had been training ruby and hadn't been holding back, most of the once green yard was now mud and craters were visible in some areas, the falling leaves didn't help either

Ruby nodded, not saying a word. She landed on the ground and nearly an instant later vanished in a puff of rose petals. Qrow spun and raised his blade smiling slightly as he felt ruby's scythe slam into it. Ruby still had rose petals following her, her face was grim, fierce.

Qrow didn't know what had happened, what had caused the change, he could guess, but really it could have been any one of the dozens of things that happened during the Battle of Beacon, during what the media was calling the Vytal Massacre. It could have been Penny, the little robot that was accidentally destroyed; it could have been watching Pyrrha die. It could have been the nameless hunters who would never return to school or their families. It could have been seeing her sister finally admitting defeat. The end result was that Ruby, the brilliant huntress-in-training-who-could was now pushing herself even further.

"I just hope she doesn't break" Qrow thought, recalling another person he knew who drove themselves this hard. They'd ended up with white hair and more than a handful of regrets. Qrow allowed his mind to wander slightly, thinking of the parallels between Yang's situation and the past. As pieces started to click he lost track of what was going on.

It was all Ruby needed.

With speed that would have been impossible if not for her semblance Ruby swiped a leg under Qrow. Using the top of her foot as a hook she pulled back, causing Qrow to lose his balance. Ruby spun and used the back of her scythe as a hammer, ramming the heavy end of the shaft into Qrow's gut. Qrow hit the ground with an audible slam. All the air was driven from Qrow's lungs as he lay limply.

Ruby gasped for breath herself, she put away her scythe and put her hands on her knees, inhaling lungful's of air as sweat dripped from her brow. She put away he scythe and rested he hands on her knees. She smiled as she realized exactly what she had accomplished.

"I beat Uncle Qrow! Yeah it was sorta luck, but I did it! I beat my Uncle! I beat him!" Rub y would have jumped for joys if she weren't so exhausted. As it was she fell backwards. She landed, sprawling out on the muddy terrain, grinning like a dolt. She closed her eyes as exhaustion finally took her "I did it…." She muttered.

Qrow barely paid an attention to his niece's realization. He sat up soon after ruby collapsed. He had been surprised by how forceful the move had been, that was not something ruby would have been bale to do a year ago. "Getting stronger by the day huh?" he muttered, resting an arm on his knee.

Qrow pulled out his scroll and started to flick through it. This situation, or at least something similar had happened to his own team. The breakup of the team, one team member sitting morosely in bed, another training their heart out, a third running away… It reminded him of his second year at Beacon. Qrow never really thought about that dark period in his team's life, not when their friend had been killed in a training accident.

He could still hear the screams, the frustrated shouts as the flames burst out of control. He recalled dragging Taiyang out of the training room just in time to dodge the worst of the resulting dust explosion. Raven and Summer had come out soon after A little worse for wear but nothing too serious. The team still inside Team BLZE never came out.

"Team Blaze is still in there! Taiyang shouted. Qrow held him tightly.

"What can we do?" Qrow asked fiercely, tightening his grip on his friend.

"I can help." Summer said quickly, turning to look at Raven.

"Then go, but if your not back in ten seconds-" Raven began but was interrupted by another explosion inside the training room.

Summer didn't wait for backup she was in and out in a matter of seconds. Three bodies appeared next to Qrow.

He looked at them horrified. He could feel his stomach churn. He tried to force it down but quickly turned and vomited when he saw one of the charred bodies gasping for air. The wheezing sound still haunted him all these years later.

Blaine, the leader of BLZE and a good personal friend of team STRQ was never found, her body was likely vaporized from the explosion. It had just been a training accident, but in their own way everyone blamed themselves. It only got worse when Zack and Leaf ,two other team members had died only a few hours later. Ember, Blaine's twin sister, and one of Raven's best friends (or few friends depending on how you looked at it), hung on for three days, but she too died from the burns.

Tons of people had made it clear that nobody blamed the survivors for the accident; nobody blamed team STRQ. To most people that would have been enough, but each and every one of them Taiyang, Qrow, Summer and Raven all blamed themselves. Tai and Qrow leaned on each other for support. Qrow fell into drinking and summer simply trained herself harder than ever. Each of them was coping in their own twisted way. Things got awkward when he walked in on Raven and Tai having their "alone time" But he and they eventually recovered.

But the event had altered them all forever. Qrow became Cynical, Summer became a person who drove herself above and beyond what was safe, Tai became to afraid of losing people he cared about and for raven it was the beginning of a massive change in worldview one that he could never agree with.

Would it be the same for Ruby and her team? He hoped not, with great reluctance he dialed a number, he put the scroll up to his ear. He heard the phone ring for some time before voicemail picked up. Qrow sighed expecting no answer.

"I know you don't like to keep in touch…"

Later on…

Ruby sat at the kitchen table wolfing down a plate of cookies and chugging milk. Qrow sat on the other side of the table, flipping through apps on his scroll. Part of him hoping that a call from Ozpin would appear, allowing him to slip out of the uncomfortable situation he was in.

Ruby on the other hand, simply watched Qrow. She barely noticed the amount of cookies she was eating. Her silver eyes glancing down only long enough for her to plant her hand on another cookie or grab the glass of milk.

'Anything on the CCT?" Ruby asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Not really." Qrow said still looking intently at his scroll.

There was a awkward silence. The air was heavy with tension, ruby scrambled for another question.

"Can you tell me how to use that silver eye power thing?" She asked. She had asked dozens of times before and the answer was always a hard no. Qrow turned and concentrated a piercing gaze on her.

"I- I was thinking, since today I beat you and all that maybe I could ya' know, learn how to use that power." She said starting to wave her arms, "You said it was really powerful and maybe if I knew how to use it I could get that Grimm off from beacon and we could all go back to school and be-"

"Happy? Have your team be one big family again?" Qrow interrupted raising an eyebrow, a grim look on his face. Ruby nodded slowly, eyes downcast.

Qrow put away his phone and placed both his hands on the table. He leaned close to ruby.

"Ruby I can't tell you how to use that power. I'm not your mom. I don't have that power." He said shaking his head. Ruby nodded slowly, the look in her eyes revealing disappointment.

"Moreover, even if I could, even if you could control it and even if you could kill that Grimm, that doesn't mean your team will get back together." Qrow said slowly, thoughts reaching back to his time at beacon and the training accident that was the beginning of the end for team STRQ. "Ruby you can't get back what you've lost like that. Your team won't go back to how it used to be. Too much has happened."

"this is worse than the "Talk" Taiyang had me give." Qrow thought. That had been awkward this was a thousand times worse.

Ruby's heart plummeted "I know it won't be the same but-" Qrow raised a hand stopping her in mid sentence. He shook his head grimly. 'Ruby Your team will get back together but it won't be that easy. Think about what is happening right now." Qrow said he looked at Ruby straight in the eye and raised one finger.

"Blake is somewhere." Qrow raised two fingers "Weiss is in Atlas" He raised his third finger "and Yang is clearly not being Yang." Ruby's head fell She felt tears well in her eyes as she, for the first time realized exactly how much she had to do as team leader in this situation. She could lead her team through hordes of Grimm, a city invasion, the battle at beacon, but this? This would be hard.

"You and your team will pull through ruby, but it'll take time. Part of being a team leader is to know when to be proactive, and when not to be." Qrow said, feeling that Ruby knew that but hey, it helped to reinforce such a critical point of being a leader. Ruby nodded. Qrow stood and walked over to his niece He ruffled her hair.

"Now I gotta go, have stuff to deal with, bad guys to beat up, women to-"

"I got it!" Ruby whined. Qrow chuckled he smiled. "I'll see you later." He said as he turned and left.

Ruby looked down at the now empty plate on the table. She pulled out her scroll and dialed a specific number of a fellow team leader. The scroll rang for a few seconds.

"Yello?" A familiar voice said.

"Jaune, it's ruby. I think we have a job to do." She said seriously.

"When and where?" Jaune asked seriously.

"As soon as possible. Get Ren and Nora if you can. We need to stop Cinder."

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Ruby heard Jaune inhale and exhale.

"See you at Patch." Jaune said quickly. Ruby smiled her friend was always there for her; just like she knew her team would be if they could.

It didn't take Ruby al that long to write the note to her dad, explaining he rreasons for leaving. When she was finished she walked up to Yang's room. She went to enter

"Why did you leave?" She heard Yang ask on the other side of the door. Ruby tensed, prepared to break through the door and strike. Then she heard a voice she didn't know.

"There is so much you don't know, so much that this world demands and many dark secrets that no one should have to bear. It's a world where only the fittest survive, it's cruel and sometimes it doesn't make sense. I can't tell you why but I promise it was to keep you safe."

Ruby could guess who was on the other side of the door. She smiled and quietly backed away. She wandered back to her room to write a quick note. She wanted to talk to Yang, but she had faith that she would have time in the future, there was no reason to ruin such a important moment for Yang.

Ruby left the note to Yang on her desk Yang scrawled across the front of the envelope. Ruby smiled as she quietly sneaked out of the house. Closing the door behind her. She turned and walked out

"Hey" Jaune said quietly

"Hey Jaune." Ruby replied

"Haven's a long way off." She said walking up to him

"Yeah, but it's the only lead we've got." Jaune said nodding

"You all sure you want to come?" Ruby asked, wanting to make sure everyone wanted to come of their own free will

"The journey will be perilous and there's no certainty of finding answers" Ren said

"But we wouldn't be here if you weren't willing to try." Nora finished.

Ruby smiled at her friends, dressed for the weather, ready to push on to haven.

"Let's go then." Ruby said quietly. They started to walk away from Ruby's house, through a thick snowfall. For a moment Ruby turned and saw yang staring back. Ruby smiled slightly and nodded at her sister. Yang didn't nod back nor did she make it clear that she had even noticed but Ruby had a feeling she did.

Ruby turned around and walked away, having faith Team RWBY would reunite.

"Ruby by the way, Both and Jaune are team leaders, but there is only one team." Nora started

"that's true Nora" Jaune said calmly.

"So who's team leader now?" She asked. Jaune gasped Ren shook his head smiling. Ruby giggled.

'What? I want to know! They need to decide the new team name after all too!"

Nora said to the laughter of her friends.

"Nora, It's a long way to Mistral, we can talk about it on the way there, just not right now." Jaune practically pleaded.

Ruby nodded cheerfully. She couldn't agree more


	6. Epilogue: Ashes

Ashes

Cinder watched the image on her scroll. She frowned as she saw the group of hunters and huntresses in training leave the Xiao-long house. She had thought se had broken their will more thoroughly than she evidently had. It would be something to work on.

Cinder was dressed in her normal clothes, the crimson dress flowed freely. She pushed herself off the Satin sheets and pulled on her glass shoes. She smiled as she brushed her hair out of the way of her face. As she stood she stumbled slightly, causing her to lose her balance and fall to one knee. She cursed quietly that Rose girl had injured her when she unleashed that power. She didn't imagine that a child would be such a threat. She would keep an eye on that girl from now on.

"You should be wary of your injuries. You still are of use to me." A voice said flatly. Cinder turned quickly and struggled to stand.

"Milady." She said through gritted teeth. Salem slowly slid out of the shadows. And looked at her wounded servant. She walked past cinder without so much as a glance.

"Follow me." She ordered. Cinder turned and weekly limped after her master.

"We have struck a first blow in the… recommencement of hostilities." Salem said walking out into the hallway. The sky dyed dark read, with the dark stone that made up the structure gave the hallway an ominous feeling, even cinder felt a hinto of discomfort in the place.

Salem continued to stride forward as she talked making a quick turn towards the great hall. "We have captured many potent pieces. We have neutralized others, such as Ozpin."

"I thought You had captured Ozpin, not killed him." Cinder said in quick confusion.

Salem smiled, Cinder thought she was lever but she was more foolish than she let on. It is so easy to manipulate you and you don't even realize it. Salem thought. She waved her hand and the doors to the great hall opened silently.

"Captured implies that they are a threat that needs to be caged." Salem said as she walked inside.

Inside the great hall was a dining area with a long obsidian table. There were twelve chairs, or rather thrones as each was large and crafted masterfully, each made of a different material. Cinder cocked an eyebrow as she saw the table was fully set, as if for a feast. Salem sat at the head of the table in a chair made from obsidian. She waved for cinder to sit on her left. Cinder limped to the chair made of glass and slowly sat in it. In front of her was a large meal with chicken and vegetables, a basket of bread to her left with a glass of deep red wine to her right. Salem raised a glass nodding towards the end of the table. Cinder heard the wheezing gasps of an old man. She turned her head toward the end of the table.

There sat a table of White marble, sitting in the chair was a man with a tangled beard. His hair messy and unkempt he wore a pair of glasses that seemed to have cracked lenses. He was heavily leaning to one side. His face was heavily wrinkled his eyes sunken. But he held Salem's gaze. Clearly whoever this man was not all his strength was gone. There was still something of a fire left in his soul.

"Who is he?" Cinder asked having a suspicion but doubting her own eyes.

"He was a man who thought himself wise, who thought victory came from the smaller things, from a brighter, more honest soul. He was and still is a fool." Salem said with a slight smile. She turned her gaze to Cinder her crimson eyes boring deep into Cinder's soul. "He has been neutralized as a threat, but is a good reminder of the dangers of being overly optimistic." She turned and waved her hand again.

Slowly the chair, made of copper, across from Cinder started to glow as something started to take shape. A red glow came from the table as a humanoid shape, but still slightly transparent started to form. The person who appeared slowly but surely, still slightly transparent caused Cinder to shiver just slightly, more out of shock than anything else.

"She is not yet broken." Salem said casually.

"Pyrrha Nikos? I killed her." Cinder said.

"You did. this is simply the remains of her shattered soul. Souls are notoriously hard to wipe away, better to use them then go through the hassle of destroying them." Salem explained. "They are so much easier to manipulate than people. They aren't the person they were attached to after all."

Salem turned back to the old man, Ignoring Cinder's grin as she began to realize what her mistress would do to Nikos' soul, truly a fate worse than death.

"To you, my great nemesis brought low. I cannot wait to watch you burn." She said. With that she brought the wine glass to her lips, smiling as she drank deeply. She slowly stopped and lowered the wine glass, silently putting it one the table. Salem started to laugh, cinder grinned and the old man simply squirmed in place a preternatural fear of Salem having finally unveiled itself.

The Grimm amassed outside started to howl as there mistress's laughter reached them, a signal of the darkness that would consume Remnant the ages to come. As well as a stark reminder to the Hunters of exactly what they fought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the entirety of what I have written. I hope you have enjoyed it! A Jaune one shot revolving around the same idea will be up at some point int he somewhat near future.
> 
> Please Comment if you have the time. I love knowing what people think as well as any advice they could give. What did you like? What did you wish I had done differently? Please tell me!
> 
> Again, Thank you very much for reading The Aftermath! Goodbye for now!


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